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22 Jan 2008 : Column 1792W—continued
Trade Unions
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what meetings he has had with trade unions officials since 1 July 2007; on what dates; and with which trade unions. [179865]
Mr. Woodward: Ministers meet many people as part of the process of policy development. It is not normal practice to disclose details of such meetings.
Innovation, Universities and Skills
Erasmus
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what (a) financial and (b) non-financial contribution his Department has made to the EU Erasmus Mundus programme since 2001; and which third countries were partners in the programme in the latest period for which information is available. [180444]
Bill Rammell:
The Department makes no direct financial contributions to the Erasmus Mundus programme, which is funded by the European Commission. Along with representatives of the other EU member states, my officials are involved in the development of the programme
through membership of the Erasmus Mundus Committee. The latest statistical information available from the European Commission shows that in 2007, 13 third countries were involved in partnerships with EU institutions—Australia, Belarus, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Japan, Peru, Russia, South Africa, Switzerland, Ukraine and USA. In addition, scholarships were awarded to incoming students from 102 different third countries.
Europass
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what his policy on the extension of the Europass is. [181030]
Bill Rammell: Europass was incorporated into the European Union's Lifelong Learning Programme with effect from 1 January 2007. There are currently no plans to extend the Europass beyond its current scope.
Higher Education: Gifts and Endowments
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what estimate he has made of the total value of private endowments managed by universities. [178240]
Bill Rammell: We do not hold data centrally on the total level on endowment funds held by universities but the income from such endowments amounted to nearly £300 million for 2005/06—the latest year for which data is available. Over the past decade, significant improvements have been made as more institutions have set up and expanded their professional fundraising capacity. This has been supported by the Government’s commitment to increase the level of voluntary giving to universities with the introduction of a £7.5 million capacity building scheme and the £200 million matched funding scheme over three years that was announced last year.
Higher Education: Greater London
Mr. Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what assessment he has made of the effect of withdrawal of support to institutions in south-east London for students studying equivalent or lower qualifications. [178076]
Bill Rammell: No students currently studying equivalent or lower qualifications will be affected by these changes. In future, our policy of redistributing grant will widen participation and mean that more of the three million Londoners of working age who do not have a first higher-level qualification, especially those from non-traditional backgrounds, will be able to benefit from participating in higher education.
Higher Education: Peterborough
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how many and what proportion of people normally resident in Peterborough have participated in higher education to degree level in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement. [179257]
Bill Rammell: The main measure for tracking progress on increasing participation in higher education is currently the Higher Education Initial Participation Rate (HEIPR). This is the sum of the HE initial participation rates for individual ages between 17 and 30 inclusive. It covers English-domiciled first time entrants to HE courses, which are expected to last for at least six months, at UK higher education institutions and English, Scottish and Welsh further education colleges, and who remain on their course for at least six months. The figures are shown in the table.
| Higher education initial participation rate (HEIPR) 1999-2000 to 2005-06 | |
| Percentage | |
| Source: "Participation Rates in Higher Education: Academic Years 1999-2000 to 2005-06 (Provisional)" Statistical First Release, published by DfES. | |
Figures for 2006-07 will become available later this year. The HEIPR is not disaggregated below national level.
HEFCE's “Young participation in Higher Education” publication includes the proportion of young people who enter higher education at age 18 or 19 by parliamentary constituency, although this only covers the years up to 2000. Participation rates based on this work are given on the supporting POLAR website (www.hefce.ac.uk/polar).
The figures for Peterborough in each year from 1997 to 2000 are shown in the table.
| Proportion of people from Peterborough entering HE aged 18 or 19, based on the cohort aged 18 in each given year | ||||
| Cohort reaching age 18 in year | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 |
| Source: “Young Participation in Higher Education", published by HEFCE. | ||||
Research: Animal Experiments
Anne Moffat: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what funding his Department provides for research into alternatives to using animals for research purposes. [164127]
Ian Pearson:
In 2004 the Government established the National Centre for Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NCSRs) for research into alternatives to the use of animals in research; this is the first centre of its type in the world. Since its launch, baseline Government funding for the NCSRs has increased from £696,000 in 2004-05 to £2.218 million in this financial year. In addition to this, because of the number of additional high quality applications received, the NCSRs secured additional funding of £400,000 from the MRC-Medical Research
Council—and BBSRC-the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council.
Research related to the 3Rs can also be submitted to MRC and BBSRC through their response mode funding mechanisms.
Students: Finance
Mr. Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what assessment he has made of the effect that withdrawal of funding for equivalent or lower qualifications will have on opportunities for lifelong learning. [177551]
Bill Rammell: The progressive re-distribution of institutional funding away from students doing equivalent or lower level qualifications will enable us to widen higher education participation and support more of the millions of people of all ages without a first higher education qualification, including the five million people over fifty without such qualifications. However, there will be transitional protection for existing students doing equivalent and lower level qualifications until they complete their courses. All of the £100 million will be redistributed to support our priorities, including the challenges posed by Sandy Leitch around the proportion of the workforce with higher level skills from under 30 per cent. to over 40 per cent. by 2020.
Communities and Local Government
Capita
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what meetings (a) she, (b) Ministers in her Department and (c) officials have held with (i) directors and (ii) senior executives of (A) Capita Group plc and (B) its subsidiaries since 1 January 2001; what the (1) location and (2) duration of each meeting was; whether a record of each meeting was kept; and if she will make a statement. [180710]
Mr. Dhanda: Ministers and civil servants meet many people as part of the process of policy development and advice. It is not the usual practice of Government to disclose details of such meetings.
Council Tax Benefits: Tax Rates and Bands
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) how many households in England have zero liability for council tax due to 100 per cent. council tax exemptions; [180158]
(2) how many households in England have a liability for council tax. [180159]
John Healey: Table 1 of the statistics release “Local Authority Taxbase—2007 England” gives details of dwellings in England as at 8 October 2007 that were exempt from council tax. This release is available on the Communities and Local Government’s website at:
Council Tax: Bedfordshire
Margaret Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what was (a) the rate of household council tax and (b) the percentage change from the previous year this represented for each of the last 10 years for (i) Bedfordshire county council, (ii) South Bedfordshire district council and (iii) Luton borough council. [181120]
John Healey: Details of the council tax and the percentage change from the previous year this represented for each of the last 10 years for (i) Bedfordshire county council, (ii) South Bedfordshire district council and (iii) Luton borough council are available on the Communities and Local Government website at:
Departmental Accountancy
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what items of her Department’s (a) revenue and (b) expenditure are uprated using (i) the consumer prices index, (ii) the retail prices index and (iii) other measures of inflation. [179945]
Mr. Dhanda: The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Departmental Contracts
Jim Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the (a) objectives and (b) value was of each contract placed with (i) Deloitte and Touche, (ii) Ernst and Young, (iii) KPMG, (iv) PricewaterhouseCoopers and (v) PA Consulting by her Department its predecessor Department and its agencies in each year since 2004-05. [179035]
Mr. Dhanda: The total amount spent by the Department centrally with the five companies since 2004-05 is as follows
| £000 | |||||
| 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 to date | Total | |
The nature of each contract involved could be provided only at disproportionate cost. However, I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given on 12 December 2007, Official Report, column 554W, and to the answer given to the right hon. Member for Maidenhead (Mrs. May) on 14 June 2007, Official Report, column 1170W, which give details of certain departmental contracts.
The amounts spent by the Department’s agencies and nature of the contracts are set out as follows.
| £000 | ||||||
| 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | Total | Nature of contract(s) | |
|
2005-06: International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) Advice | ||||||
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